Pause on Plastic: tips on sustainable living

ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) – About a decade ago, Kevin Greene and his wife Naomi created a to-go bag that would help them avoid using single-use plastics when they go out.

“We leave all of this in our gear, in the car, so we’re prepared for just about anything,” Greene said.

The set includes reusable straws, utensils, a water bottle, a hot drinks cup, shopping bags and produce bags.

He is not only concerned about plastic, but also about the production of plastic.

“We just use too much,” he said. “We produce too much. We have to turn off the tap.”

The kit the two carry was just the beginning of their sustainability journey.

And after wearing the kit for a while, the Greenes were inspired to become more sustainable indoors, too.

Kevin Greene recommends starting with something small and slowly adding more reusable products into your home.

In the kitchen they use beeswax paper and silicone bags and covers to keep the food fresh.

Sustainability of the kitchen — Kevin Green demonstrates the kitchen sustainability products he uses.

In the bathroom they exchanged liquid soaps and shampoos for their equivalents in bars, and for their hand soap they used tablets dissolved in water.

sustainability of the bathroom — In the bathroom, the Greenes have gone from liquids to solids.

Finally, in the laundry room, they use reusable dryer balls or more natural versions of dryer sheets and refill their cleaning products like laundry detergent at a zero-waste store. Cero in Tucson.

Durability of laundry — The laundry room is a bit more difficult, according to Greene, because that’s where they store cleaning products that often require single-use items.

Greene said household cleaning is the hardest place to eliminate single-use plastics.

“We’re trying to switch as much as we can to get away from paper towels and things like that,” he said.

The couple placed reusable wipes next to the paper towel holder to remind them to use them. Greene says he even tries to make his own cleaning products, but struggles to find a way to do so without single-use materials.

Greene says that while there are ways to reduce personal plastic consumption, Greene says the overall burden is on the companies that produce and package the products: “we really need effective government policies that shift that responsibility from the consumer to the consumer brand companies and the parcel companies that produce all this waste.”

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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet everyone in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, [email protected]or connect to Instagram or X.